LANCASTER — Two days after tornadoes splintered their neighborhoods, dozens of families finally were allowed to return Thursday and claim whatever was left.

Even then, police warned, they went at their own risk past the broken police tape that fluttered from mangled street signs.

What they found there: a two-mile band of littered yards, shattered walls and smashed cars. Homes deemed uninhabitable were marked with an orange “X” — as if marks were needed.

“People think you’re crying about the material stuff,” said Gwen Edwards, 56, tears streaming as she sifted through her rain-soaked bedroom. “I’m crying because there’s only so much you feel you can take.”

The grandmother had raised two children in the house, and mourned one of them since November 2010, when her 22-year-old son was killed in a car accident. She had kept a candle burning for him in his old bedroom, now destroyed along with most everything else. A neighbor promised to keep a candle burning while she rebuilds.

Perry’s tour

The scene was repeated time and again as residents continued to struggle with the remains of Tuesday’s violent storms. By late Thursday, the National Weather Service had plotted 14 tornado tracks throughout the region, including 10 in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Portions of Kennedale and Arlington, Lancaster, Oak Cliff and Forney took the brunt of damage. Hundreds of homes were damaged and many were left uninhabitable, including 150 in Lancaster. Despite the widespread damage — 400 homes in Arlington/Kennedale and about 120 in Forney — few people were seriously injured, and no one was killed.

About the same time that residents in the three hardest-hit neighborhoods of Lancaster were allowed to go back, Gov. Rick Perry declared a state of disaster in North Texas. The declaration covers Dallas, Tarrant and Kaufman counties.

“As communities begin to rebuild, my office is working to clear the way so that all needed resources continue to be available for local authorities dealing with the aftermath of this storm,” Perry said.

The governor also reminded residents of a new law that prohibits contractors, once a disaster has been declared, from demanding full or partial payment before they begin repair work on homes.

“We do need to thank the Lord,” Perry said amid the rubble of broken homes and twisted cars. “Witnessing this type of disaster always brings to mind how quickly these events can occur. … Today a lot of people are blessed to be alive.”

Perry took an aerial tour of the damaged areas before a news conference in a neighborhood off Wintergreen Road near Lancaster’s Christian Life Center.

Joined by elected officials from the area and Lancaster Mayor Marcus Knight, the governor thanked the first responders who helped deal with the storm and protect lives. He also praised residents who helped their neighbors and community pick up the pieces.

“It’s another example of Texans helping Texans,” said Perry, who also talked to residents affected by the storms.

Not all those affected were happy with the governor’s visit or the way the city was orchestrating the cleanup.

Dallas police Sgt. Lloyd Brown, who is set to retire next week, said he was frustrated that the neighborhood was closed, not just for safety reasons, but to accommodate Perry’s news conference.

The tornadoes destroyed three of Brown’s homes, including the one he lived in.

“He could have said what he said in Austin,” Brown said. “This doesn’t help me. We can’t get in our properties, and now we have to endure a political song and dance.”

Perry spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said the neighborhood reopened Thursday and the governor’s office “took direction from and deferred to local officials who ensured that our presence would not in any way hamper response efforts or impede their progress.”

A city spokesman said safety concerns kept the neighborhoods closed until Thursday afternoon, hours after Perry departed.

“The homes are still unsafe. We’ve warned people that they’re going in at their own risk,” Chris Crawford said. “But we realize people want to get back into their homes.”

The waiting weighed on residents such as McArthur Lee and his wife, Jada. The couple, who have a 5-year-old daughter, were at the Lancaster Recreation Center shelter Thursday morning and still had not seen their home.

“They keep telling us we will be able to get in, but then keep turning us away,” McArthur Lee said. “The sitting and waiting to get back in and start cleaning things up is the most frustrating part.”

“It’s taken the normalcy out of her life,” said Jada McArthur.

Elizabeth Armstrong said she was wearing the same shirt for a third consecutive day. She felt lucky to be alive but was ready to go home, no matter what’s left. She said she’s lost everything, “my home, car … everything.”

“First, you’re in shock; then you realize you have to start taking the first steps and do things,” she said.

Volunteers descend

The tornado-torn areas were abuzz with contractors and insurance adjusters. State Farm reported that nearly 2,500 homeowners had filed claims, and 6,500 automobile claims had been submitted, many for hail damage.

Volunteers were also hard at work across the area, including David Kuykendall in Forney’s Diamond Creek subdivision.

“My neighborhood was probably 150 yards from getting hit, too,” he said. “We’re a pretty good community as far as helping people out whenever we need it.”

On Lancaster’s Brookhaven Drive, the storm peeled Ulyesses Mitchell’s roof off like a cheap screen door and flooded his house when wind gave way to rain.

On Thursday the 67-year-old colored-pencil artist stood in front of his collapsed garage, examining his ruined drawings. A water-stained image of a girl and puppy. A wrinkled print of a Buffalo Soldier.

Mitchell had sold his artwork since long before he bought his house in 1980. What was salvageable he stacked inside a truck; what wasn’t he tossed into a pile of rubble — once his garage — that entombed his family’s two sedans.

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